The experience behind it
eQUILL built its online will platform with the assistance of David Shad, an experienced solicitor admitted in New South Wales who practises in wills and estates, in a family firm that has served its community across two generations. Not a lawyer who once did a wills subject at university — a practitioner whose working week, for decades, has been this exact field. Across that career David has prepared thousands of wills, acted in many hundreds of probate and letters of administration matters, and appeared in the contested will disputes that follow when estate planning goes wrong:
- Thousands of wills drafted — from young parents buying a first home to complex estates with trusts, companies and blended families
- Probate and letters of administration — many hundreds of matters — guiding executors and administrators through what actually happens after a death, where drafting choices prove their worth or their cost
- Contested will disputes in the Supreme Court of NSW — acting in family provision claims, validity challenges and contested probates that follow bad or missing wills
- The full picture around a will — joint tenancies and severance, superannuation death benefit nominations, executor duties, guardianship, testamentary trusts
That last courtroom point matters most. Anyone can copy a will template off the internet. Knowing which clauses end up in court — which ambiguities get exploited, which omissions cost families years and six figures — comes only from cleaning up the wreckage. Every question eQUILL asks, and every warning it raises, exists because of a real file where it went wrong.
DS
David Shad
Solicitor · Wills, estates, probate & estate litigation · Australia
David is an experienced solicitor practising in wills and estates. He has prepared thousands of wills, acted in many hundreds of probate and letters of administration matters, and appeared in contested will disputes — the courtroom end of estate planning, where drafting is truly tested. eQUILL's clause architecture, its plain-English explanations and its honest see-a-solicitor boundaries were all built with his assistance.
eQUILL operates separately from any law practice. Using eQUILL does not create a solicitor–client relationship with David Shad or with any law firm — eQUILL is a document preparation service, and where your circumstances call for tailored legal advice, we say so.
What an online will is for
The purpose of eQUILL is simple: most Australian adults have no valid will — not because their estates are complicated, but because the traditional path is slow, opaque and expensive, and the $30 kit alternative is a trap of blank spaces. So a lifetime of work ends up divided by the intestacy formula instead of by the person who built it. eQUILL exists to close that gap:
Your decisions, made easy
Every legal concept explained in plain English at the moment you need it — executors, guardians, legacies, residue, substitution — so you decide with your eyes open.
Real drafting underneath
The same clause architecture a solicitor would use: joint executor appointments, thirty-day survivorship, per-stirpes substitution, trustee powers, proper charity gifts.
The traps flagged
Joint tenancies that bypass your will. Super that needs a nomination. Witnessing rules that void gifts. Marriage revoking wills. eQUILL raises each one before you sign.
Fifteen minutes, $139, done
One sitting tonight — then our solicitor team reviews your answers and emails your will within 1 business day, ready to sign. No subscription, no appointments, no surprise invoices.
Our honest boundary: when you still need a solicitor
Here is the part most online will companies whisper and we say plainly: an online will is right for most people — and wrong for some. eQUILL prepares straightforward wills for straightforward circumstances. If any of the following is true, a template — anyone's template — is not the answer, and tailored legal advice is worth every dollar:
See a solicitor if…
- You have a blended family — a partner and children from different relationships
- You intend to leave out someone who might expect to inherit (family provision claims are real)
- Your assets involve a family trust, company, or self-managed super fund
- You own assets overseas, or a farm or business needing succession planning
- You want a testamentary trust for tax planning or asset protection
- There's any question of capacity, or pressure from anyone about your will
eQUILL is built to notice these moments — and when you hit one, we don't squeeze you into a template. We tell you, and if you ask, we arrange for a solicitor at Shad Partners Solicitors & Conveyancers to call you. You're always free to use any solicitor you choose.
Why you can trust the product
- Plain English, always — explained before you decide, never after
- One fair price — $139 once, no subscription ever, no upsells at the finish line
- Solicitor-grade drafting — not fill-in-the-blank guesswork
- Honest limits — complex circumstances are referred out, not papered over
- Your will is yours — reviewed by our team, emailed to you, never held hostage
A will is the last thing you'll ever say to the people you love. It deserves to be drafted by experience, priced fairly, and finished tonight.
Make my will — $139
eQUILL is operated by Quillo Australia Pty. Ltd. (ABN 39 701 325 475). eQUILL is a document preparation service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. See our Terms and Privacy Policy.
